Biggles' Surprise Packet
Biggles' Surprise Packet is a short story which was first published in The Modern Boy Issue 333, 23rd June 1934. The story was subsequently gathered and published in 1935 in the Boys' Friend Library edition of Biggles Learns to Fly where it spanned chapters 19 and 20. The original Modern Boy short story was divided into four sections with subtitles The Pup's First Flight!, Over No Man's-Land and To Give Them a Shock! and Caught Napping!. The 1935 BFL edition split the story at the beginning of the third section and used the headings of the first and fourth sections as the chapter titles but without the exclamation marks. Subsequent editions such as Brockhampton and Armada did the same until the Norman Wright edition when the story was cast in the original format in The Modern Boy as one chapter. Synopsis Biggles has just been transfered to 266 Squadron and records his first combat success by forcing down and capturing a Rumpler. He then devises a plan to deal with the enemy fighters who have begun to operate in large formations or "circuses". Plot (may contain spoilers - click on expand to read) Characters *Biggles *Captain Mahoney *Mark Way *Major Paynter *Major Mullen *Captain MacLaren *Lorton *Major Raymond *Wat Tyler Aircraft *Sopwith Pup *Bristol Fighter *Rumpler *Fokker Dr.I *R.E.8 *Sopwith Camel Places Visited *266 Squadron, Maranique *Douai *St. Omer Mentioned Editorial Changes Other Research Notes *169 Squadron (Bristol Fighters), 287 Squadron (S.E.5) and 231 Squadron join 266 in the big "show" to take on Richthofen's circus. *Captain Albert Ball V.C. is mentioned. *Aerial Victories: Biggles 2 (Rumpler and Fokker Dr.I) References to the past Incongruities *See chronology below for some anachronisms. Chronology (see also table at Timeline of the Biggles Stories) *''Biggles and the Runaway Tank'' is stated to be set in the "middle of June" 1917 with Biggles still a junior pilot in 266 and the squadron already equipped with Sopwith Camels. In Surprise Packet, Biggles has just been posted to 266, and the squadron gets Camels at the end of the story. So the time has to be June 1917 or slightly before. This timing is consistent with some details in the story but anachronistic in other aspects: **Richthofen's Jagdgeschwader 1 (JG1) was formed on 24th June 1917. As Biggles noted in the story, the Germans had begun to group their good pilot's together, putting several squadrons into a large "circus". Out on his first patrol with Mahoney, they are attacked by "Richthofen's Circus". **The Sopwith Camel began to be introduced into British squadrons around June 1917. *But there are some anachronisms: **The Fokker Dr.I triplane was only introduced for trials in JG1 from August 1917. Deliveries of the type only began in October of the year. **In the text, Biggles states that "it gets dark now about half past six". In France, in June, sunset would be around 2200 hrs. *The theme of the Germans grouping their squadrons into large circuses, Richthofen and triplanes had already been mentioned, rather anachronistically, in Crashed Flyers!. Publication History *''The Modern Boy'', Issue 333, 23rd June 1934 *''Biggles Learns to Fly'', Boy's Friend Library 1935 (as Chapter 19: The Pup's First Flight, Chapter 20: Caught Napping) *''Biggles Learns to Fly'', Brockhampton, 1955 *''Biggles Learns to Fly'', Armada, 1963, and subsequent reprints *''Biggles of the Royal Flying Corps'', Purnell, 1978 (as Chapter 4: The Pup's First Flight, from Chapter 19 of Learns to Fly. Chapter 20 is not used.) *''Biggles Learns to Fly'', Severn House, 1980 *''Biggles Learns to Fly'', Knight, 1986, and subsequent reprints *''Biggles Learns to Fly'', Red Fox, 1992, and subsequent reprints *''Biggles Learns to Fly'', Norman Wright, 2010 References Category:Short stories Category:Biggles short stories Category:World War One era short stories